NiteRider MiNewt.X2

[rockyrider]

My old Vistalight Nightstick helmet light NiCad batteries seem to be at the end of their life cycle, and I was looking for something that would lighten up the battery load in the Camelback. I wanted something that I could use on the bars for less challenging night rides that was easy to get on and off, or mount it on the helmet to use with bar mounted lights.

The MiNewt has a single bright LED and a very lightweight LIon battery. It makes a nice neat package for a bar mount light. It only weighs 232gms for the lamp and battery. It has a high/low setting, and also a flash setting that could likely trigger epileptic fits.

The LED in the lamp body mirrors the LED on the battery switch. It's normally blue, but it changes to red as a low battery indicator. The battery pack is small enough that I can likely attach it to the Camelback shoulder strap instead of having to stuff it in the back, that'll keep the control button available.

I've got the helmet mount and extension cable on order at my LBS. I have been running a 10W wide flood MR11 helmet lamp which is good for lighting a large area when cornering in tight technical rails, but it lacks punch. We'll soon see if the MiNewt is too narrow a pattern for a helmet light. It has quite a hot spot.

So far it is right on spec for charging, it takes 4.5hrs to put a full charge on the battery. We'll see how close it is on the rated burn time. It's supposed to be good for 3.5 hours on high.

[LeeMcGough]

I'm really hoping the LEDs are capable of knocking off the present lighting leaders. They are too expensive, with short burn times. The beauty of the LED is its efficiency. I have a couple of 1 watt LED commuter lights bar mounted, and they are BRIGHT for their weight and burn time (50 hours!) is pretty damned good too. How much do the MiNewts cost?

[Mo0se]

Yep these right Here (http://www.dinottelighting.com/Products.htm)
Comes with two battery packs.

The Endurance series Lith model, not the
aa rechargeable.

[rockyrider]

This single unit was just over $200CDN at the LBS. Price Point has them for $190US and the dual head unit for $230US

[rockyrider]

Yep these right Here (http://www.dinottelighting.com/Products.htm)
Comes with two battery packs.

The Endurance series Lith model, not the
aa rechargeable.$249 US is a good deal with 2 batteries. The NiteRider battery is about $140 by itself.

[kpomtb]

I have the AA version of the Dinotte and have been impressed with it so far. Light, easy to put on or take off.

I haven't found AA rechargeables I'm that impressed with yet though. Although they are cheap. I got a couple of extra battery carriers at Radio Shack pretty cheap, so can change the batteries easy enough.

I wish the Li-Ion version had been available when I bought mine.

[bennyprofane]

Just a little heads up on a killer deal:
AE Bike has these lights for $135

http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30&action=details&sku=LT9058

Plus they're a real bike shop in Michigan.

[rockyrider]

even better the dual head unit (http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30&action=details&sku=LT9056) for $170

[LeeMcGough]

Anyone tried the TriNewt? 500 lumens sounds pretty damn bright. But I don't know. Just guessing. What do the HIDs put out?

[rockyrider]

What do the HIDs put out?I think it depends how much you spend on dinner and the movie. :D

I'd expect that HID's will be up well over 500 Lumens, but with a wider beam than the LED's. And shorter burn time.

[LeeMcGough]

I guess I should probably read my posts before hitting "submit reply" in order to check for double entendres, and not just typos:o

[rockyrider]

Isn't that half the fun of posting double entendres?

[rockyrider]

Bike Mag has a great comparison of LED bike lights on their website. It really shows the relative brightness and pattern.

http://bikemag.com/gear/accessories/LED_Light_Test_1/

You just rollover the descriptions and it pops up the image of all the lights in the exact same setting on high and low.

[bdee]

FWIW I've been using a first generation Minewt on the bar with the Minewt X2 on my helmet so far this season. (I had the old Minewt from last year and sprung for the X2 in October). Together they throw more than enough light for me to ride near as fast as I usually do on trails I know by heart. Even on "new to me" trails there's enough light to really keep things moving. Most of my night rides are solo affairs due to timing, me being a jerk :D etc.. I found last friday that with some snow cover I could get away with just one light (X2) due to the reflected light.

The weirdest thing is getting in the car and readjusting to the yellow light the car's headlights project. It looks really weak compared to the nice white light of the Minewts.

[rockyrider]

I liked the MiNewt so much that decided to go for a TriNewt on the bars and move the MiNewt to the helmet.

The TriNewt is hugely bright, and it has a bigger LiOn battery so it has the same burn time as the MiNewt (3.5 and 7 hours). It has the same hi/lo setting as the MiNewt. It has a shaped pattern so there is a long throw beam and still lots of beam width near the bike, a lot like running three MiNewts. It has a total of 486 lumens output, and that's starting to be a realistic light output value since it isn't a narrow spot beam.

It competes favourably with the moderate powered HID systems. It won't compete against some of the Baja race magnitude multi-lamp HID systems but it's plenty bright on the bars. It would be overkill on the helmet if there was dust, snow or fog in the air, as you'd have a whiteout in front of your face.

[LeeMcGough]

How much are the trinewts? 300 or so?

[rockyrider]

$350 + taxes at my LBS, they're price matching US online shops where they can using Google to check the typical online prices. We did find a US online shop (http://www.ebikestop.com/Items/004-LT9052) selling them for $266, but that's way below their cost, and the price they offered was enough of a deal to make me happy.

[LeeMcGough]

I'm going to need something like this. Oh god, that means I am going to have to do some voluntary overtime in order to pay for it without neglecting bill payments:(. Oh well. I guess once I'm out on the trail with a super-bright light, the horror of being at work more than is neccessary will fade.

[rockyrider]

First chance to ride the TriNewt tonight with no snow around to make the light seem much much brighter. Back to our typical dark as a cows' inside nights, with the wet surfaces not reflecting anything back at you. Even on the low setting this thing is bright, and has a great pattern for a bar mount light. It's almost too bright and too big a pattern for a road ride, I bet the thing is as annoying as an oncoming BMW or Mercedes with the HID lights.

I think the TriNewt on the bars and MiNewt on the helmet will be ideal as a dirt combo.

[rockyrider]

Running both the TriNewt and MiNewt on high last night for a ride in the woods, wow, those things are bright! I had ghosts coming up and bumping into them thinking they were headed to the light. :D

The MiNewt is very narrow compared to the TriNewt and there are times it would be nice to have about 25% wider beam, but the big advantage I did find with the narrow beam is that when you hit fog or even just the cloud of breath when you exhale it doesn't produce a complete white out right in front of your face, there's just a narrow beam through the fog that lights up.

[sthrnfat]

That bike mag test is really cool. Scolling over the lights shows a clear example of each light on high and low so you can get a direct comparison of the light output.

Great idea for a light comparison.

[RepublicanSS]

I use the mininewt2, the new one, I like it, though I'm going to order the second light with the helmet mount.

On high it actually lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes, it's advertised as 3.5 hrs so that's pretty close, a lot closer than advertised bike weights.:confused:

[rockyrider]

Finally got the proper helmet mount for the Minewt, and could get it aimed up high enough to look further down the trail. Pretty much moonless and dark as pitch last night and on a trail along the top of a pipe berm the illumination range was about 100m and it would light up reflective tape or critter eyes at about double that. Considering I was riding alone that was nice to know that when you sweep the woods either side of the trail you get lots of range for spotting critters or dead fall.